The concept of limiting shower times in order to conserve water especially during times of drought, water shortage and other restrictions is known.
The problem of limiting shower times can be exemplified by the frustration of parents of children, as well as irresponsible tenants of leased premises who engage in lengthy showers of indiscriminate duration. To give a specific example, long showers engaged by children not only cause disagreement and ire of their parents but often has important consequences wherein the children can be late for school, or a family outing delayed. The problem is further exacerbated when considering unnecessary wasting of both water and the energy required in excessive heating and water usage, which has both financial and environmental consequences.
The concept of controlling water supply to a shower is known. Examples are disclosed in Australian Patent No. 2007231680 (JOBSEN) and Australian Patent No. 785030 (CLOSE). AU 2007231680 (JOBSEN) discloses a shower timer which counts down a predetermined showering period with controls for allowing the user to increase or decrease the remaining showering period whilst the count down has been initiated.
AU 785030 (CLOSE) discloses a shower timer which permits flow for a predetermined period of time having visual indicating means to indicate flow time remaining and audible means to provide one or more warning signs that vary in frequency or pitch as the remaining shower time decreases.
Neither of these examples of the prior art allow for a shower head controller or timer that automatically initiates on the basis of temperature, for example in response to a change in temperature with respect to time, i.e. a temperature gradient, or when a predetermined threshold temperature of the water is reached.
Furthermore, AU 785030 (CLOSE) also appears to require a remote power source which would normally necessitate the involvement of a qualified installer, thus adding to the cost.
A second, important limitation associated with the known art is that these prior art devices need to be initiated by the user pressing the ‘start’ button and do not apply in a non-negotiable manner, i.e. the shower controller itself does not detect when a shower has begun automatically and then ensure that the user completes their shower within a designated time period. In the prior art mentioned above, the timing function can be overridden by the user thereby negating any benefit of having the device. Importantly, without initiating the shower unit, the shower time can be as long as the user decides as the shower timer unit is bypassed altogether.